The Piano and the Easel
by MyRoisinDubh
Summary: Hinata is a talented artist who attends an exclusive boarding school. Her boyfriend is abusive, she is bullied constantly, and she has had no friends or family to count on. But she's just met a pianist who may change her life forever.
1. Chapter 1

**The Piano and the Easel.**

The room was very large, filled with all kinds of items for any type of artist. It had wood flooring, but a large oriental rug covered most of it. The walls were a dark shade of green which finished in a dark, wood paneling. Tables, which were littered with paper and drawing utensils, were spread throughout the room. A large grand piano sat at the back, along with the string instruments such as violins, bases, and cellos. In a dark desolate part of the room was an easel, in front of the easel stood a young girl with a thoughtful look on her face. Her name was Hinata.

-----------------------------------------------

Hinata ran her fingers along the edge of the easel. What could she paint today? Thinking back to all the beautiful sights she'd seen in the last two days she had a hard time choosing just one. Picking up the paintbrush she closed her eyes and made a slashing motion with her arm, she looked at the streak of paint for a moment, and then finally came to a decision on what would be perfect.

Hinata started to hum her favorite song, becoming entranced by the movement of the brush. Nothing could reach her in this state, it was the only place where she could freely express herself without consequence. Up and down, up and down, her hand moved, seemingly on its own. All she had to do was picture an image and it would be created.

She continued to paint and hum, to enthralled to notice the person who moved silently towards her. She jumped when a hand was placed lightly on her shoulder. She didn't need to look to know who it was.

"It's beautiful," Neji whispered into her ear. "Just like the creator"

Hinata turned to face her boyfriend, making sure to keep her eyes downcast.

"Thank you."She mumbled.

Neji and herself had been together since the day she had arrived at the Konohagakure institute. A year-round boarding school for unwanted kids, only for those whose parents could afford the outrageous fee of course. The day she'd been carted off had been one of the worst days of her life. Her parents had picked her up from school early without a word of explanation. When she noticed that they had not picked up her younger sister, Hinata already had an idea of what was happening. Her suitcases were already in the car, packed, but no matter how much she had asked or cried they would not speak a word to her. They had walked her to the enormous gates that surrounded the institute's land and handed her off to the young man waiting at the gate.

"Ah," The man had smiled. "This must be your daughter Hinata, I'm sure she'll enjoy her stay here." He turned to Hinata with that huge smile plastered on his face. "I'm Kabuto, the headmasters assistant."

Her father merely grunted and got back into the car. Her mother had leaned down to kissed her on the head, "Be a good girl." She told her oldest child, before joining her husband, then they driven away.

"Welcome to your new home." Kabuto said to Hinata, a new wave of tears found its way to her eyes.

Neji was her only friend at the institute. When she'd first met him he'd seemed nice and charming, willing to protect her. The other kids at the institute where cliquish, none of them made an effort to meet her. Hinata, who was small and timid, immediately became a target for the so called "bullies" of the school, especially a gang of upperclassmen who called themselves the Akatsuki.. Neji was the only person who would defend her. The first month of school she had followed him around like a puppy. They had gotten together within days after that, which was when she discovered his true colors.

Neji was a controlling person. Hinata could hardly breath without permission from him. She did what he wanted her to do or suffered the consequences. Normally a hard slap, or punch was all she received for disobedience. Sometime though, when he was in a bad mood, he'd do a lot more then that. She'd once been hospitalized for a concussion and a broken rib. Neji was at her bedside with flowers and chocolates the whole time. She told the doctors she had fallen down the stairs.

As original an excuse as that was, she could think of anything else to tell them when she'd been put on the spot. The doctors hadn't believed her, she could see it in their faces, but they couldn't do anything unless she admitted what had happened so when she was released she headed right back to him. Hinata believed that the hospital staff knew, or suspected, who had put her there because the whole time Neji was around they had stared at him constantly. She was happy he hadn't noticed, no telling what he would have done to her then.

Neji leaned in to kiss her but jerked back as the door creaked open. A boy with bright red hair walked into the room and without a glance at the other two present, sat down at the Piano and pulled a folded sheet of music from his pocket.

Neji scowled at him, but the boy paid no mind.

"Come on Hinata, lets go to my room, it's more private." He grabbed her by the wrist and led her out of the room. She was pulled roughly along the hall, but she managed a glace back at the door in wonder. Who had that been? She had never seen him before. Neji jerked her arm and she sped up. Soft, wonderful music started to fill the hall as they pushed through the door leading to the staircases. Hinata had never heard such a lovely song before. _'I must learn his name'_ she thought.

-----------------------------------------------

Garra had finished practice in a mere fifteen minutes this time, he just wasn't in the mood to play any longer then that today. He stood up, folding the music and placing it back into his pocket. He was about to leave, but his eye got caught on the painting in the corner of the room. He studied it for a while, impressed. _'That girl must have painted this earlier.'_ He realized. The picture was of a small sprout, just emerging out of the barren desert-like ground. "Art represents the wishes of the soul" Someone had once said to him. He wondered what that girl was representing here.

-----------------------------------------------

**I would greatly appreciate this being read also. . .**

**A/n: Okay, This was going to be a HinataxSauske but then I remembered that, well, I can't stand that paring. I went through and replaced Mr. Unbearable Emo with Mr. Cool Emo (A.K.A. Garra). So now it's a HinataxGarra AND I CAN BE HAPPYFULL!! Unfortunately I have to keep Sauske, because I still need the brother relationship between him and Itachi for further plot wonderfullness. Also, the only reason it's Neji is in a relationship with her is because I wanted the boyfriend to look like her. . . it was a whim. So don't accuse me of incest or something b/c they are****not**** related. **

**. . . oh yeah, I don't own Naruto by the way. (Like any of you thought I did) **

Please inform me of any mistakes in grammer or spelling.


	2. Sheet music

_Do you see what I see_

_why do we live like this_

_and im sorry, so sorry_

_I'm sorry we do this - "They" Jem _

It was Sunday morning. The sun was covered by dark storm clouds that brought with them a foreboding atmosphere, a day that the students of Konohagakure deemed to gloomy for their tastes. The lightening and thunder had come around midnight, soon followed by the rain.

The rules forbade the students from leaving the building without permission. Had they known that someone was outside, especially in this weather, they would have sent someone out to retrieve him immediately and he, more then likely, would spend the day cleaning classrooms. But of course, no one had noticed his early departure, therefore no one came looking. The boy had traveled up onto the roof of his school to watch the storm before it had even started and he didn't go inside until it had stopped raining completely, that happened around eight.

* * *

When Gaara entered his dorm room, he was throughly soaked. The little drops of water stained the wooden floors with dark circles. 

"So, where were you hiding last night?" Sasuke asked without so much as looking up. His nose was buried in a new book titled, 'Evil Serial killers.'(1)

Gaara grunted in reply. Heading over to his own side of the room he started looking through his drawers. Now, there were only two drawers belonging to Gaara, and they served as his only means of storage. This being the case, they were an accurate rendering of a. . . war zone. Clothes, music books, music sheets, schoolwork, spare keys, and other small items were all mangled together at the bottom.

Gaara started to fling items aside looking at all his crumpled papers for the piece he wanted.

"Need some help?" Sasuke asked in a bored tone. He could only be amused by his roommates behavior so many times.

"The music." Gaara replied angrily. "I forgot where it is!"

"Why do you need it so bad? There aren't any classes today."

Gaara didn't reply so, sighing, Sasuke returned to reading.

After a few moments Gaara ran out of the room clutching a piece of paper tightly, still soaking from the rain.

"Glad to see you found it." Sasuke grumbled to the empty room.

* * *

Hinata wandered into the game room. It was vacant, as it always was Sunday. The other residents of Konohagakure were all upstairs in the commons socializing. Sunday was the only day grades mixed in the school so everyone wanted to meet up with older or younger friends and siblings. 

Sunday was always one of Hinata's favorite days. Neji would be upstairs meeting with friends, leaving her a whole day to herself. Unfortunately the Art room was locked, as were all the classrooms, leaving her with twenty-four hours to kill. Still, Sunday was the best day, warts and all.

Flopping onto the couch, she stared blankly at the television. Not really watching whatever show was showing, just lost in her thoughts as she mused over the previous day. That haunting and wonderful tune from the piano replayed through her head. The 'Piano boy' as she had come to call him, was all she seemed to be able to think about. Who was he? She had never seen him around school before, not that it meant anything that she hadn't. There were a lot of kids at Konohagakure and she didn't know half of them. She didn't really pay any attention to the people she passed in the hall, she could pass him every day and not even realize it. And this was assuming he was in the same grade as her!

That would be likely. After all, its not as though she had a good amount of time to judge. She'd only seen him for a minute or so and she wasn't thinking straight with Neji there.

"Look who's here, it's the princess! You all alone?"

'Well speak of the devil.' Hinata inwardly groaned. This would be the bad side of Sunday, the Akatsuki. They'd made it their life goal to harass Hinata every chance they got. Most of them were older so Sunday was really the only day they got to do anything, unless she passed them in the hall.(2)

Hidan slid into the seat next to her, lightly chuckling to himself. Hinata immediately tensed. 'Let hell on earth commence' she inwardly groaned. She didn't understand why she was chosen as their victim The opposite side was taken over by Kisame, the boy who had dyed himself blue several months ago in a series of bizarre attempts to resemble a fish.(3 / 4)

"So little girl," Kisame grinned wrapping his arm around her shoulder "we have a proposition for you."

* * *

Gaara tried the door handle first. Sometimes they forgot to lock the art room, he really felt like playing today and the only piano in the school was in this room. _Of course _it would be locked. 

He stood there for a moment wondering what his next move would be.

– – – – –

The unhinged door lay on the floor, he would fix it before he left. Besides, Gaara doubted anyone would be walking by to notice it, to busy with their friends to even consider leaving the Commons. Sitting down at the piano he began to play.

* * *

Hinata clutched the envelope tightly. Why was she doing this? It was insane! She felt as though she was being led to the gallows by her own two feet. Why, why, why? 

For every step Hinata took, her stomach clenched slightly tighter until she wanted to throw up. She stopped for several seconds to collect herself before continuing to her destination.

She stopped again, but for a different reason then before. She heard a haunting tune flowing down the hallway, the same one as before. She broke into a run.

Time to meet him!

* * *

) I can't apologize enough for the ridiculously long time it took me to update, and its not even a good chapter!!! You would not believe the crazy stuff that has been happening in my life, none of it's good either. I feel guilty having taken so long; but its here now soooooo. . . just don't kill me. I can't apologize enough to you but I also can't promise the next update will be any faster (Can you die from a frustrating life?) its called a tumor Again, I'm really sorry and I hope I can get this up sooner next time. 

1) haha, for those who are interested I do own that book (no I am not a serial killer. . .I do know one though, her name's Kate.) It's very interesting actually, I saw it at some Barnes&Noble and had to buy it. Its by Charlotte Greig.

2) I know that in the show most of them are to old to be in school, but I'm sure you guys won't have any problems suspending your disbelief for something that small. . . will you?? T.T

3) Why are they together? Good question.

4)I NEEDED AN EXPLANATION THAT FIT THIS REALITY!! Don't laugh at me!!!! I had to think really hard about that one. I even looked up "fish obsessions" on 'google'. (All I got was fishing gear and records T.T ) But as much as I thought. . . I couldn't help Hidan. He will not be immortal in this story.(or maybe I can make something up for that later. . . but probably not) Sorry Hidan. :)

Okay, last footnote! I'm sorry for the spelling mistakes in the first chapter. (And thank you for not pointing them out) I can't believe I spelled their names wrong!!! I was so embarrassed when I realized. Ill go back and fix them soon. (Now I've put a sticky note with their names spelled correctly right on the computer.)


	3. Clay Birds

**GAHH!! SERIOUS WRITERS BLOCK ON THE THIRD CHAPTER!! Probably not a good sign for the future of this story . . . I just feel kind of awkward writing it for some reason. Nothing comes out right anymore. But I'll keep trying. Sorry for taking so long to update and if the characters seem a little OOC this time around. **

_Oh, and thanks to al those who reviewed!_

_Gaarhina: Just wait, I have a surprise that I'm sure you'll enjoy!! _

* * *

But our love it was stronger by far than the love  
Of those who were older than we--  
Of many far wiser than we-  
And neither the angels in Heaven above,  
Nor the demons down under the sea,  
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul  
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee:--

_-_Annabel Lee- by Edger Allen Poe

_

* * *

__The boy rose from his seat. _

"_What?" He demanded angrily, upset at the interruption to his practice._

_The girl took a step back, looking down toward the discarded door. _

"_Um, uh . . . W-who-" she stuttered. She realized, too late, that she hadn't planned on what to say when she finally met him. "Um, w-w-here-" _

_Her voice barely rose above a whisper._

"_What? Speak up would you!" _

"_Uh, um, S-sorry"_

_She ran. Passed the broken door._

_The boy slid back down in the chair, cradling his sore head in his hands. He didn't feel like playing anymore._

* * *

'Okay' she consoled herself. 'So I chickened out . . . it's not as though I'm the only one who would have done it . . . Besides, he was . . . scary.'

Oddly enough, Hinata had suddenly discovered the courage needed to deliver the envelope. She walked briskly up the stairs that led to the boys' dorms.

Why did she hate delivering things for the Akatsuki? That was simple, every time the Akatsuki asked her to deliver something for them it was either because they didn't want to be caught with the envelope, or because they were too afraid of the receiver; therefore they stuck _her_ with the tasks.

Today, however, Hinata doubted she could get quite that scared a second time.

It really was strange though. The more she pondered it, the more she wondered why she'd been so terrified of him. Perhaps she had just felt embarrassed. There really hadn't been anything threatening about his stance, and when he'd spoken there was more irritation then anger apparent in his voice. Or maybe he-

And there she was; right in front of the room number Kisame written on the envelope.

Hinata gulped.

She brought her shaking hand up to the wooden door, took a deep breath, and knocked. Taking a step back, she waited patiently for an answer. She heard a loud thud, and someone behind the door started muttering a string of words that left Hinata's mouth hanging open. She nervously drummed her fingers along the envelope, and took an extra step backwards.

"What?" An irritated voice called from the room; the yell was followed by another loud crash.

"Um, I have a something for," She quickly checked the name written on the envelope. "Someone named Sasuke"

One finalcrash was heard, before the door opened to reveal a black-haired boy who glared down at Hinata.

Hinata was surprised with this boy's appearance. This Sasuke person didn't have the usual look of those thug-types she often delivered things to. He was actually . . . pretty normal looking.

Sasuke's hair stuck up in an odd fashion, and Hinata wondered briefly if maybe she'd woken him up from a nap. She was slightly taken aback by the angry eyes that were staring down at her; they were very dark, almost black, with a slight hint of red circling the rim. She was hit suddenly struck with the thought of how much he would look like Itachi if his hair was styled differently. Could that be a coincidence?

He gave a sigh. "Look, like I told _all_ your friends already, I will _not_ give out any autographs; I will _not_ give out signed picture; and I will _defiantly _notgo on a date with you no matter what present you've brought me."

Hinata felt her eyebrow arch. 'Self-centered are we?'

She didn't respond with any of the sassy retorts that jumped into her mind, only shifted nervously.

"O-oh, n-no, I w-was told to d-deliver this to you."

She held the envelope out toward him, tentatively. He took it curiously, opening the flap and pulling out the paper that was inside. His eyes moved back and forth as he read. When he was finished, he looked back toward Hinata with a guarded look. He folded the letter back up and slid it in to the envelope. "And who might you be?"

"Hinata." She responded quickly.

He was silent; his eyes held a far away and thoughtful look that suggested to Hinata that he didn't even realize she was there any longer. But as she started to walk away he grabbed her arm.

"Who sent this?" He demanded.

"You don't know?" She asked in disbelief. Normally the people she delivered to were expecting her. That or the Akatsuki made it pretty clear that it was from them.

"Who, Who sent this?" He repeated his voice dangerously low.

"The Akatsuki." She answered. Hinata was suddenly very afraid of this boy.

He gave a feralgrowl and then tossed the envelope into the room. He gave Hinata an ugly look.

"Leave." He snarled.

Hinata, not being one to argue with him, tried as hard as she could not to run before she had turned the corner.

She had been wrong about not getting scared a second time.

As she flew down the hall, concentrating on getting away from the dorms, she failed to take in her surroundings. Consequently, she failed to notice the two persons watching her from behind an open door as she ran past them.

--

"She's awfully easy to intimidate, un." Said the first.

"Not to mention completely oblivious to the situation we've dragged her into." Said the second

"That's not very _nice_, Zetzu. It's not _her_ fault."

Zetzu didn't respond.

"Silly Zetzu," Continued his blond companion. "She's always been like that, since she first came here. After all, that's the way we want it . . . and besides, its cuter that way"

He leaned back against the wall and gave a big smile to his fellow Akatsuki member. Then, almost as an afterthought, he added, "un."

--

Hinata hadn't meant to run back to the game room, and once she paused before the door she realized how stupid a mistake it was to have come back. She wouldn't put it beyond Kisame or Hidan to have waited for her to return for no other reason than to tease her.

She quickly swiveled around and headed for the Commons. At least there she wouldn't have to worry about the Akatsuki bothering her.

When she arrived, Neji was no where to be found. So Hinata sat down at an empty table and stared off into space. Hopefully no one would want to talk to her. Hinata almost laughed at the thought, because she knew no one would.

There was a small group of boys playing football beneath the open window Hinata had found herself staring out from for the last hour. She had watched the rain slow down to a drizzle and then stop completely as she contemplated her miserable existence. When Hinata looked at herself, all she saw was a worthless coward.

Hinata sighed, resting her head in her hands. How had she even gotten involved with the Akatsuki? If she remembered correctly it was Neji's fault. Neji had his own little gang of friends, and they were rivals with the Akatsuki. Plus, Neji was one of those people who spoke his mind regardless of who he was talking to. One of those said people being the Akatsuki's leader, Pein. His personality had quickly made him an enemy of theirs, and as always Hinata had gotten dragged into someone else's war.

She found herself thinking of the first time she'd met an Akatsuki member. It hadn't been a terrible time; in fact she had enjoyed it quite a bit. She'd laughed and talked more in ten minutes then she had in her entire time at Konohagakure. Sometimes Hinata found herself wondering if the whole thing had been set up as Neji insisted or if she'd really just met that boy by chance and had so much fun solely because they got along. She didn't know which she wanted it to be either.

"Hey watch out!"

Hinata looked up just in time to see the brown blur heading straight for her head

_**Hinata lounged under a tree with her favorite book. The sun was shinning and the breeze brought the pleasant smell of spring with it.**_

"_**Hey, New Girl!" The voice ripped through Hinata's quiet sanctuary. **_

_**Hinata looked up from her book at the boy running across the yard; she was surprised with how many people already recognized her as the 'new girl' after having lived here for little over a week. **_

_**The boy that had called her name slid to a stop in front of her. He was older than Hinata, and his height showed that obvious age gap as he towered over her. His blonde hair was drawn back into a high ponytail and his bangs hung low, covering half of his face. He wore a black cloak-like article with a red cloud print over his normal clothing. Hinata found herself wondering if it was a uniform for some club he was in or if he just had an interesting taste in clothing.**_

"_**Hey, do you have a minute?" He gave her a big smile as he pointed towards the side of the building. "My partner ditched me in the middle of carrying my piece to the art room. There are some little pieces I can't fasten down and I'm worried they might fall and then I'd get in a **_lot_** of trouble."**_

"_**Um, yeah, sure." Hinata gave a nervous smile. **_

"_**Great! Come with me then. It's right over here. It's for a big exhibition they're going to have here soon. I'm entering a couple-" **_

_**Hinatalet him ramble as she started to follow him cautiously. For some reason she was getting a bad feeling that formed in the pit of her stomach. Was this a mistake? She didn't know this guy; maybe he was a creep who was trying to lure her to a more secluded place. No windows were placed on that side of the school, so it was the ideal place for something like that.**_

"_**I need you to help me move him." **_

_**Hinata stared wide-eyed at the enormous clay statue of a bird. **_

"_**Cool, right." The blond grinned. "Here, you carry this." He held out a bag to Hinata.**_

_**She almost screamed when she saw what was in it. "H-h-hey! These are-"**_

"_**Shh, don't say it out loud!" The blond scolded. "If the teachers hear I'll get in trouble. Though I can't understand why, they barely pack enough punch to destroy this fellow. I didn't want to risk hurting the judges."**_

"_**B-but it's DYNAMITE!"**_

"_**Shut-up! What did I just say? Don't let anyone hear."**_

_**Hinata glanced nervously down at the pack of explosives in her arms and sighed, realizing that maybe she should just do what he said. The feeling of dread had gone away, and had been replaced by something else that felt suspiciously like excitement. Hinata was having fun with this.**_

"_**Okay, follow me. My names Deidara by the way, un." He started to push the clay bird and Hinata was surprised to find the thing was propped up on wheels.**_

"_**What?" Hinata asked.**_

"_**My names Deidara."**_

"_**No, after that."**_

"_**After what, un?"**_

"_**There, y-you did it again."**_

"_**Oh, you mean un, un."**_

"_**Yeah. That's what I mean. Why d-did you say that?"**_

"_**Why did you stutter?" **_

"_**. . . Fair enough."**_

_**Deidara laughed. "Well, anyway, what's your name? Or do you just want me to keep calling you 'new girl'?"**_

"_**Oh, no, I'm sorry! How rude of me, my name is Hinata."**_

_**Their friendly chatter continued until halfway to the art room, Hinata had forgotten all about the danger she was carrying and instead was having a great time laughing and joking with her new friend. They were laughing at one of those said jokes when a new voice cut in.**_

"_**What are you doing, Akatsuki scum."**_

"_**Neji!" Hinata gasped, surprised to see him. He was supposed to be at a practice for the sport he was trying out for this coming year. "What are you-?" **_

"_**Just step away from him Hinata. Put the bag down and get over here quickly"**_

"_**Neji, what's this about? I'm only helping Deidara take his project to the exhibit" **_

"_**Hinata, get over here, he's not safe to be near."**_

"_**What are you talking about Neji."**_

"_**Hinata, LISTEN. Get over here."**_

_**She gave an irritated sigh and obeyed his instructions. **_

"_**Neji!" Deidara greeted him with the same smile he had used with Hinata. "What a pleasant surprise. Why I haven't seen you since . . . What was that poor boys name? Kiba, wasn't it?"**_

_**Neji's fists clenched at his sides. "You put him in the hospital."**_

"_**Not me," Deidara continued to smile patronizingly. "It was Sasori that was responsible for that one. I was that with that cutie Tenten." **_

"_**You bastard, get out of here before I slam your girly face into the wall."**_

"_**NEJI!" Hinata scolded, surprised to see him acting this way. **_

"_**Sorry Hinata, but you should leave." Deidara suggested. "Your boyfriend obviously wants to keep you away from danger. Don't worry about the 'loose stuff' I'll take care of it."**_

"_**uh, o-okay." Hinata agreed, still unsure of what was going on.**_

"_**See you later, Neji sweetie!" Deidara teased, waving goodbye.**_

_**Hinata could see the wild look that formed in Neji's eyes. He was acting so strange, she'd never seen him like this before. As the pair started to walk away Neji draped his arm around Hinata. They walked to Hinata's dorm in silence, but as she entered the room Neji grabbed her arm.**_

"_**I'm sorry you saw me like that Hinata. I acted terrible in front of you and I apologize. It's just, I've banged head with a couple people in that group and I was afraid they would do something to you because of it." **_

"_**Its okay, Neji, I was just surprised."**_

"_**Just stay away from guys wearing clothes like that. They're trouble Hinata, they're the kind of people who grow up to be things like loan sharks; In fact, they're the kind of people who grow up to have loan sharks afraid of them."**_

_**Hinata nodded slowly. She hadn't seen that in Deidara at all, he had seemed like a nice guy to her. **_

"_**Just be careful Hinata. I don't want you to get hurt because of a stupid rivalry.**_

_**He gave her an tender hug. "I don't want you to get hurt at all. I love you."**_

_**Hinata wrapped her arms around his neck as he kissed her.**_

_**This was back when Neji was nice.**_

"Are you okay?"

The voice cut through the fog that had enveloped Hinata's senses.

"Yeah, I'm f-f-fine."

Damn! That stupid stutter, again. Hinata was starting to seriously consider speech therapy.

Several people stood above her, a mixture of concern and amusement plastered over their faces. A teacher pushed them all out of the way.

"How many fingers?" The teacher held up her whole hand. This was so stupid.

"Seven." She replied.

Wait . . . seven fingers, on one hand?

"Wait, no, five." She corrected herself.

She glanced at the group of kids around here; she knew some of them from class. One pink haired girl in particular, Sakura, one of Hinata's roommates.

"Only you, Hinata." Sakura said snidely. "You're just the strangest; getting hit with a football like that." Giggles rippled through the group of students in response.

Hinata felt her cheeks flush. They were laughing at her? How was this, any of her fault? Why weren't they worried about her, or upset at the boys playing football when they weren't even supposed to be outside? Even the teacher attending to her chuckled a bit at Sakura's joke.

Hinata wanted to run under her bed and die.

The teacher started giving her instructions, "Go directly to infirmary, and find the nurse. Tell her what happened to you and that I said for you to get checked out. She'll take care of you, go on now."

Hinata got up and obeyed the teacher. Maybe she could sleep for a couple years in the nurses office..

* * *

Gaara didn't get back to the room before dark. He had meant to get get back before that, but had gotten lost in thought up on the roof.

He'd gone back up to his spot once the rain had stopped.

He was greeted by the sight of his roommate Sasuke's sleeping form, and a huge mess covering the floor of the formally clean room. Either he had slept through a tornado or someone had woken Sasuke up from a nap.

Gaara started to change for bed, taking care to wake Sasuke up in the process. Banging against furniture and whistling Bach compositions loudly.

Sasuke groaned and he knew he'd accomplished his mission.

He looked over at the third bed in the room.

"Kibaisn't back from the hospital yet? I thought he was comming back today"

Sasuke grunted his reply, "I hear his parents are thinking about changing schools."

Gaara raised his eyebrow at this little tidbit of information. Most parents of the kids in this godforsaken place wouldn't care enough to even visit an injured child.

He gave a heavy sigh. "Well if you're under the impression that _I'll _be cleaning this mess up, you're sadly mistaken."

Gaara grabbed the mattress and with a quick jerk, threw Sasuke to the floor. Sasuke gave an loud howl of anger and pain as a lamp fell from the wall and onto his head. Gaara allowed himself a small chuckle at his roommate's pain.

"Now you clean this up, and I'll lie down and read."

"Stupid insomniac roommate," Sasuke muttered. "if you're not going to sleep then help me clean." Sasuke rubbed his sore head as he sat up.

Gaara directed an evil chuckle towards Sasuke.

"No."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and proceeded to begin his enormous chore of cleaning.

"So, this girl came to the door today-" Sasuke began.

Gaara closed his eyes in annoyance. "Look Casanova, as much as I enjoy listening to your tales of female conquests, I want to try to sleep now."

"She brought something," Sasuke continued. "A letter from the Akatsuki."

Gaara slowly opened one eye to look at Sasuke. "I'm listening."

"Look, I can't tell you much right now, but it has to do with _**that thing**_ we were talking about last night_._"

Gaara frowned. "What do they have to do with _**that**_."

"I don't know, but they seemed pretty insistent that you meet with them."

"Sasuke, How did they even find out?

"I don't know, Gaara. I didn't tell them if that's what your saying."

"I know, I know. Look we'll talk about it later, I don't think we can trust the walls here anymore.

"Your right. Tomorrow then, on the east side of the school."

Gaara closed his eyes and tried to tire himself by thinking of his classes, but no matter how hard he tried his thoughts kept drifting back to the girl from this morning. Where had he seen her before? It was bugging him how he couldn't place her. He probably shouldn't have acted as angry as he had, he would consider apologizing if he ever saw her again.

It was no use, sleep wouldn't be coming anytime for Gaara. That girl's image wasn't going to let him fall asleep.

Gaara suddenly felt the urge to play. Not being one to deny an urge, he quickly got back up and dressed.

He ignored Sasuke's whining about the injustice of making him clean as he flew out the door in a mannor Sasuke had become accustomed to.

Jeez, I had the hardest time getting this up onto fanfiction. I had to remove it FOUR times because I caught stupid computer mistakes. Why must they add symbols in without my consent?? Again, Thanks for waiting for me to update so patiently!! I apologize for the time it took.

LOVE YOU ALL!! Thanks for the reveiws!


	4. boxes and letters

**(A/N)Um… there is an excuse…….. I was…… dead…….. Yeah, that's it! I was dead. So I couldn't update since I was…. Dead. But good news! I finally figured out for myself what Gaara and Sasuke are talking about! Aren't unplanned stories just the funniest!! **

**frubiafan****: Feel free to use anything from my stories (that goes to anyone, unless I specifically say not to use something. . . . Just don't come out with an entire story with suspiciously similar storylines)**

* * *

_The clocks were striking midnight as the exhausted girl finally slipped into her dorm room unnoticed. Both her roommates were asleep and as she curled under her blankets she wondered briefly if she would ever be happy again in this life. _

Early in the morning an argument was stirring in a particular dorm room, housing two very irritable, very tired, Sasuke and Gaara.

"So that's it then . . . you're really considering meeting with _**them.**_" Sasuke spat from his bed, putting as much spite as he could muster in the words that referred to the Akatsuki.

Gaara regarded his roommate with a cool, calculating stare. "If they know anything then it's too much a risk not to."

"Jesus, Gaara, they put Kiba in the hospital, or have you forgotten the empty bunk over there?" He gestured to the abandoned section of the room which held the third bed. "Have you forgotten how Naruto-"

"Sasuke!" Gaara cut in to his friends rant with a sharp glare. "This is not the place to speak of _**that**_. What's wrong with you? just last night you seemed fine with the meeting."

"But then I had time to think about it and I realized how ridiculous the whole idea was."

Gaara stood up and began to pull out clothes to change into.

The raven haired boy gave an exasperated sigh, and in a low voice continued. "Have you? Have you forgotten what they did to him?"

"Of course not." Gaara snapped, pulling a shirt over his head "He was the first friend I made here, the first person to tell me I wasn't a monster. He understood what I had gone through and taught me how to deal with it. He helped me find the will to keep going, even after-" He broke off the sentence as a small cluster of footsteps passed by their door. People where starting to wake up.

"I know Gaara," Sasuke continued once the noise faded down the hall. "But what happened then doesn't matter. What does matter is what those bastards in the Akatsuki know about it."

Gaara slumped back onto his bed, rubbing his head in a fashion his roommate had become accustomed to. Why couldn't his life be easy? First the mess with Naruto, then that idiot Neji got his group involved with the Akatsuki and put Kiba in the hospital, and now he couldn't stop thinking about that girl-

Gaara nearly groaned as he realized he had started thinking about her again. Why couldn't he focus on the task at hand rather than a chanced meeting in the art room? Gaara wasn't a naïve child, he knew _why_ he couldn't stop thinking about her, but he willed those feelings to leave. Nothing would convince him to get involved with someone right now; it was too dangerous for her.

"I'll go." Gaara stated in a defiant voice. "I need to take care of this mess."

Sasuke didn't bother to argue with the redhead, Gaara's mind was made up now, and no force on earth would change it now. The defeated boy just sighed and returned to his new favorite book.

* * *

"Hinata, wake up." A loud, obnoxious voice cut through the dream Hinata had been enjoying. What could the pink blob possibly want her awake for? She had already stolen the vampire's cookies. . .

Hinata blinked away her confusion and looked up into the face of her pink haired roommate. "Who gets visitors five in the morning anyway?"

"Wha-" The exhausted girl tried to form a coherent thought.

"Get out of bed and answer the door." A blond lump demanded from under her covers.

"It's some annoying brat." Sakura told her. "He says he needs to give you something.

Hinata yawned as she dragged herself up from her bed and stumbled to the door.

"Hinataaaa." The forever energized form of Tobi sang as the still half sleeping form of Hinata poked her head out the door. "Someone wrote a letter for me to bring to you!"

Hinata watched as the boy dug through the dark bag he wore slung over his shoulder to find the delivery.

"Who is the delivery from, Tobi?"

"I'm not allowed to tell youuuu." Tobi sang.

"…" Hinata was too tired to be good natured about this visit. "Just let me see it  
Tobi."

"Alright Hinaatttaaa!"

Hinata started as a maroon colored box was tossed her direction and scrambled to catch it. It was surprisingly light for such a large package, and there wasn't any sound when she shook it.

"W-wait, Tobi, I thought you said it was a letter for me."

"Yep!"

Hinata eyed the lid cautiously. 'Well, no way around it.' She held her head at a safe angle as she pried it open. She peered inside ad was met with the sight of:

Another box.

Hinata deadpanned.

"_Deidara_." She hissed. Only he would think this was funny to a girl who hadn't had even gotten eight hours of sleep in the last couple of nights. And she didn't doubt that they knew how she'd been sleeping. Their little gang kept decent tabs on all their 'couriers'. A brief thought flickered through her mind. She wondered how Neji would respond if he had heard her call herself that.

Seventeen boxes later Hinata finally reached the thin envelope. Peeling it open she felt her face reform into a ridiculous expression. "No way. Tobi please tell me there is more than this"

"Nope."

"Why couldn't you have just TOLD me what he wrote?"

"Deidara thought this would be much more fun!"

"Tobi…" Hinata trailed off. With a roll of her eyes he quickly turned on her heels and headed back to bed, shutting the door on the hyper boy. The lack of sleep was making her uncharacteristically grumpy.

"Oh, Hinata, I almost forgot! You have to go see them on Monday!" Tobi called out cheerfully. "_Don't forget this time, Okay_?"

Hinata felt a slight chill at the concealed threat. As rare as the Akatsuki calling on her was, the meetings were never something she would miss. She knew better then to "forget". She had only ducked out on them once before, and would never make that mistake again. She had never been truly terrified before, and they hadn't even laid a finger on her. And ever since then they would always make a point of 'politely' remindind her whenever a new one was announced.

She placed the letter neatly inside her drawer before shaking off the feeling and plopping into her bed.

** Hey Hinata,**

** I just wanted to say Hi. Thanks for delivering**

** that letter for us, it was greatly appreciated! Sorry**

** to wake you up so early. Go on back to bed now.**

** ~ Your favorite member: Deidara, un!**

* * *

**Sorry about how short it is. A computer fixing lady deleted all my word perfect documents, so I only have the backup form regular word now so The enire second half was lost. But…. At least it's an update, tight?**

**It just hit me how awful the administrators of this school must be to let all this funny business go on. When the hell do these kids go to class? …I suppose the author should know the answer to that question but this story is already old in my mind. My writing style has improved so much since this chapter was written; I hope I can incorporate that into them somehow. Because frankly, I would hate this story if I was reading it in your position.**


End file.
